sorry for the long cn p but guys please take a second to look at this
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Dear Friends,
Forgive any cross-postings or multiple messages about the matter below. Time is so short that you may end up receiving overlapping messages from various people.
I am writing to ask for your help. This is about the future of immigrant children, protecting their constitutional access to public education in Tennessee and encouraging their parents’ involvement in their schools. A terrible bill is currently in the Tennessee General Assembly (HB 1085 / SB1760) that would greatly increase the impediments that already face children of immigrants. (A summary of the bill is pasted into this message below, and other information is included in the attached letter from Metro Nashville school superintendant and in the letter from TIRRC to Knoxville’s own school superintendant, which is pasted below.)
The bill will come up for discussion next Tuesday, April 19, at 1:30 in the House Committee on State and Local Government, and next Wednesday, April 20, in the Senate Education Committee. There are legislators on both of these Committees from the Knoxville area:
On the House Committee on State & Local Government:
Ryan Haynes, Secretary (R-Knoxville)
Bill Dunn (R-Knoxville)
Harry Tindell (D-Knoxville)
On the Senate Education Committee
Jamie Woodson (R-Knoxville)
These legislators (whose contact information is posted below) need to hear from you. You may contact them by phone, e-mail or in person. Many legislators will be back home “in district” beginning tomorrow and over the weekend, so it might be possible for you to arrange a meeting here over the next few days. We are also hoping to put together a delegation from Knoxville to Nashville next Tuesday so that Knoxville legislators can hear from their constituents before voting on this matter.
These legislators also need to hear from experts — from educators and others who are familiar with the public schools and with the many reasons why this bill is a bad idea. For instance, we are very much hoping that Superintendant McIntyre will do as his colleague, Dr. Jesse Register, the Superintendant of Metro Nashville Schools, has already done in writing to the General Assembly to help them understand why the bill will harm the state. We are also hoping to identify respected educators from Knoxville — for instance a local school principal or someone else with substantial experience in public schools — who would be interested in testifying before the House Committee on State & Local Government next Tuesday, because we think there will be an opening for someone to do so.
So ... I hope you will be able to do one or more of the following:
1. Contact Superintendant McIntyre and ask him to actively oppose this bill by
-- writing to the General Assembly and asking them to defeat the bill,
-- calling or writing to Haynes, Dunn, Tindell and Woodson and asking them to vote no on the bill,
-- testifying before the General Assembly next week
-- using his expertise and his influence in any other way he deems appropriate.
2. Contact any educators you know and ask them to do the same.
3. Participate in a delegation from Knoxville to Nashville to talk with Knoxville legislators on Tuesday, April 19.
If you are interested in any of these things, please contact Steve Fernandez or Ed Sullivan in the Cc line above — or reply to me at this address.
Yours,
Fran Ansley
________________________________
LETTER FROM TIRRC TO SUPERINTENDANT McINTYRE
From: Megan Macaraeg [Me✧✧✧@tnimmigr✧✧✧.o✧✧]
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 5:22 PM
To: superintend✧✧✧@knoxscho✧✧✧.o✧✧
Subject: Issue of Concern for K-12 Students Regarding HB 1085
Dr. James McIntyre
Superintendent
Knox County Schools
Dear Superintendent McIntyre,
I am writing you as a member of the staff of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition regarding HB 1085, a bill currently being considered in the State and Local Government Committee of the Tennesse House of Representatives. As it is written, this bill would require school districts to collect and report data—Social Security, visa and passport numbers from all students. Immigrant students brought to the school district by their parents unable to provide identification would have to provide a written affidavit that they lack any of these documents. While we believe that this legislation will have a negative effect on parents trying to protect their children from identity theft, or parents who may refuse to provide identification for religious reasons, we are also quite certain this legislation would discourage immigrant families, frequently of mixed status, from participating in our public school system, and have the effect of denying immigrant children access to K-12 education.
We believe that denying immigrant children access to K-12 education is a misguided attack on our future leaders. In 1982, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Plyler v. Doe that a Texas law denying public education to undocumented immigrant children violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The court found that the measure was “directed against children and impose[d] its discriminatory burden on the basis of a legal characteristic over which children can have little control.”
Perhaps even more dangerous, we believe this bill will undermine the relationship between schools and the communities they aim to serve. Teacher-student trust is crucial for creating a safe educational environment and educating our kids. If school administrators are forced to screen their students for immigration status, this will discourage parents from enrolling children in schools. Enforcement provisions would undermine the teacher-parent and teacher-student relationships that many have worked so hard to achieve.
During tight economic times, schools should not take on more administrative burdens. These bills will waste the time and money of schools, states, and localities, as well as divert resources that could be used to educate Tennesseans. School administrators are unlikely to be familiar with the complex and constantly changing immigration laws needed to determine a child’s status. As a result, they will spend more time concentrating on immigration training and related administrative tasks.
For these reasons, we would like you to join Superintendent Jesse Register and other school Superintendents to send a clear message to our legislature by writing a letter expressing any concerns you may have regarding HB 1085.
I am attaching Dr. Register’s letter here for your perusal. I would be happy to answer any questions regarding this matter and can be reached at 615-585-0499.
Megan Macaraeg
Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition
______________________________
Summary of HB 1085 / SB1760
This bill specifies that upon enrollment of a student for the first time to any public school in this state, the person enrolling the student must provide the school with the student's social security number or a visa issued by the United States on the student's foreign-issued passport. If neither of such items is available, then the person enrolling the student may provide the school with the student's birth certificate if issued by the United States, or any state or territory of the United States. If none of the above items are available, then the person enrolling the student must indicate such unavailability of documentation in writing.
Schools must keep a copy of the above items on record. Failure to present the items described above would not affect a student's enrollment in the school.
Within 14 days after enrolling a transferred student, the principal of the school in which the student has been enrolled must request that the principal of the school in which the student was previously enrolled submit the items kept on record as described above.
On or before September 15 of each year, each school must submit an annual report to the department of education that includes the aggregate number of students for whom:
(1) A social security number or birth certificate is provided;
(2) A visa, issued by the United States on the student's foreign-issued passport, is provided; and
(3) Neither item in (1) or (2) is provided.
Present law requires the commissioner of education to publish an annual report with certain information regarding students, schools, and education as of each November 1. The report must be distributed to the governor, the members of the general assembly, the members of the state board of education, state and local news media, local directors of schools, local boards of education, presidents of state and local education associations, presidents of state and local school board associations, state and local parent-teacher organizations, county mayors; mayors, local chambers of commerce, members of local legislative bodies, and local public libraries.
This bill adds that such report must also include the three categories of information included in the reports to the department as described above in (1) - (3) and the aggregate state and local expenditure on the students in each category. In addition to those persons or entities that receive the report as described above, such information regarding students' immigration status would also be sent to the education committees of each house, and to the finance, ways and means committees of each house.
________________________________
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR LEGISLATORS:
House Committee on State and Local Government from Knoxville:
Ryan Haynes, Secretary (R-Knoxville)
P.O. Box 22091
Knoxville, TN 37933
or
301 6th Avenue North
Suite 214 War Memorial Bldg.
Nashville TN 37243
Phone: (615) 741-2264
Fax: (615) 253-0317
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Bill Dunn (R-Knoxville)
5309 LaVesta Road
Knoxville, TN 37918
Phone (865) 687-4904
or
301 6th Avenue North
Suite 115 War Memorial Building
Nashville, TN 37243
Phone (615) 741-1721
Fax (615) 253-0276
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Harry Tindell (D-Knoxville)
P.O. Box 27325
Knoxville, TN 37927-7325
Phone (865) 524-7200
or
301 6th Avenue North
Suite 35 Legislative Plaza
Nashville, TN 37243
Phone (615) 741-2031
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Senate Education Committee from Knoxville:
Jamie Woodson
1123 Regality Way
Knoxville, TN 37923
Phone (865) 539-8683
or
301 6th Avenue North
Suite 13 Legislative Plaza
Nashville, TN 37243
Phone (615) 741-1648
Fax (615) 253-0270
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